Karen

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Danish Karen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈkaɹən/
• Rhymes: -ærən

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name. First taken up as a given name in the U.S.A., and popular in the English-speaking world from the 1950s to the 1970s.
   • 1878 Celia Thaxter, Drift-Weed, Houghton, Osgood,1878, page 28 ("Karen"):

     Left you a lover in that far land, / O Karen sad, that you pine so long! / Would I could unravel and understand / That sorrowful, sweet Norwegian song!

   • 1918 Cecily Ullman Sidgwick, Karen, W.Collins, 1918, page 12:

     I was not called Karen after Hans Andersen's dancing girl, but after a Danish friend of my mother's who married an Englishman and was my godmother. So much for our family affairs.

Etymology 2

From Burmese ကရင် (kăyin, “wild, low-caste man”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /kəˈɹɛn/

Proper noun

Karen

1. A group of languages of Myanmar and Thailand.

External links

Ethnologue report on the Karen languages

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Karen

1. A male given name, transliteration of the Armenian (Կարեն).

Anagrams

• anker
• naker

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Danish

Etymology

A medieval variant of Katharina (“Catherine”).

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name.

References

• [1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 83 320 females with the given name Karen have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1910s. Accessed on 19 May 2011.

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German

Alternative forms

• Caren

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name borrowed from Danish Karen.

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Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkʰaːrɛ(ː)n/

Proper noun

Karen f.

1. A female given name

Declension

declension of Karen

f-s1	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	Karen	Karenin	Karenar	Karenarnar
accusative	Karenu	Karenuna	Karenar	Karenarnar
dative	Karenu	Karenunni	Karenum	Karenunum
genitive	Karenar	Karenarinnar	Karena	Karenanna

Sometimes also Karen in accusative and dative.

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Norwegian

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name of Danish origin.